Canadian journalism notebook: The risk of taking money from government

Postmedia wants some of that money. A 2018 on-air rant from Paul Godfrey, then CEO of Postmedia Network, focused on the thought that the money won’t help existing media such as Postmedia. An argument for Postmedia getting government money is undermined by the fact that the majority of ownership (about 66%) of the very large and very conservative newspaper organisation belongs to New Jersey-based hedge fund Chatham Asset Management and billionaire Leon Cooperman. The U.S. hedge fund also owns about 80% of AMI, owners of the National Enquirer. Cooperman reportedly owns 14% of Postmedia.

Postmedia is working on grabbing government money but this money isn’t from Ottawa but in Edmonton via Alberta premier Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party (UCP).

The UCP is creating an "energy war room" with $30 million in taxpayer money. The setup is designed to target groups and individuals who spread what Kenney says are "myths and lies" about the energy sector. Richard Nixon would have been proud.

Postmedia wants to produce content for the energy war room. Postmedia owns a lot of newspapers across Canada, most notably for this story: Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, Calgary Herald, and the Calgary Sun.

You might think that Postmedia might have some trouble getting that money. Don’t worry. Postmedia hired Nick Koolsbergen, Kenney's former chief of staff. That just might work.

"We're not talking about producing propaganda for widgets here. We're not talking about producing propaganda for detergent or soap," Mount Royal University journalism professor Sean Holman said on CBC Radio’s Day 6. "We're talking about producing political propaganda, and that is an abrogation of what the news media should be trying to do."

"It is very difficult for hardworking, really strong journalists to do their work with credibility when in the public mind people say, 'Yeah, but your paper is helping the premier produce propaganda,'" Canadian Senator Paula Simons said on CBC Radio’s Day 6. Simons is a former journalist and former columnist at the Edmonton Journal.

Postmedia dominates the newspapers in the largest Alberta cities. After taking over the Sun Media properties, Postmedia gutted the newsrooms of the Sun newspapers and runs those papers with content from Postmedia.

If reporters at those papers were critical of the "energy war room," they likely wouldn’t have the backing of their bosses. If coverage was allowed, readers would wonder if they were able to get the whole truth.

"You have people who are dead set against the government giving any kind of money to media. We've got some people who feel that something is necessary because it's important to keep news going," Karyn Pugliese, head of the Canadian Association of Journalists, said.

"When we look and see how much coverage is devoted on CBC to U.S. politics, the inner workings of U.S. politics, making sure that it's focused on the things that are going on here in Canada — I think that's something that many Canadians have said we should ensure that it's focused on the core mandate of being concentrated on Canada."

Conservative politicians usually talk about "many" when they actually mean "a few like-minded people that they know."

As someone who pays more attention to CBC than Scheer does, CBC has plenty of Canadian stories, mostly on the radio side. Radio has more time to tell those stories. In many smaller markets, CBC has a huge media presence.

I could agree with the federal Conservative Party leader that CBC focuses too much on U.S. politics. I find that CBC's coverage of U.S. politics is too inside the Beltway and should be more independent. Scheer might disagree with my last point.

The interconnection between U.S., Canada, and other countries is important in covering international news. CBC does an amazing job of drawing that world perspective, outshining most Canadian media outlets. CTV, Global, and Citytv aren’t that focused on the world outside North America and most of the Canadian newspaper industry barely covers what is happening nationally in Canada.

Scheer could be focused only on The National, which is prominent but a small part of what CBC covers in news. Regular listeners to CBC Radio's World at Six and World This Weekend know there is plenty of Canadian content on those broadcasts.

The criticism of most mainstream news in the United States is that they don’t pay attention to news outside the United States. The little time they devote to tariffs is about China, not Canada and Mexico. A nationalistic approach leads to an ill-informed constituency.

You don't hear Liberals or the NDP or the Greens rant on about conservative news coverage in Canada. The conservatives knock each other over who will do the most damage to the CBC.

Canada is smarter than the United States thanks in great part to the CBC. Scheer may not understand that concept.

Most of this 25-minute interview with Richard Stursberg on The Agenda with Steve Paikin on TV Ontario on April 24 focuses on foreign entities not paying tax in Canada.

Stursberg, who has had a long career in media including prominent positions with CBC and Telefilm Canada, was promoting his new book The Tangled Garden: A Canadian Cultural Manifesto for the Digital Age.

Stursberg talks about the financing of news toward the end of the interview (in case you don't want to watch all 25 minutes).

He notes that Canada funds cooking shows but not news and that other countries subsidize news. Stursberg points out that France contributes just over 1 billion euros per year and that you can find 15 newspapers at Paris newsstands with different viewpoints in the political spectrum.

Stursberg recommends subsidies to news be designed in such a way for government to not make editorial judgments. Those tax credits should only be labour-based: reporters, editors, photographers.

"News is fundamental to the democracy, fundamental to the country itself," Stursberg said. "What kind of country are we going to have if we have no Canadian news." He says France knows "this kind of discourse is fundamental to the society and fundamental to the democracy."

Paikin asked Stursberg about a single idea for discussion for the upcoming fall federal election. Stursberg said one idea for the election was a "vibrant Canadian media landscape fundamental to our democracy and our sense of ourselves as a people."